


Learning You

by lucavale



Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-23
Updated: 2013-10-23
Packaged: 2017-12-30 06:28:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1015288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucavale/pseuds/lucavale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All her life, Rita had studied blastia. Never did she expect that she would want to study something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning You

 

Rita Mordio was a genius mage, intimately familiar with the different kinds of blastia and their intricacies, and nothing else. Her life had been so far spent studying and researching, establishing contact with other humans only when she needed to present her findings and advance in blastia research. It was all she had known and all she had studied, and while a lot of people thought of her as crazy and someone they couldn't really associate with, they valued her intellect and her diligence.

She knew how it felt to go on days without food or sleep, and she didn’t really much care losing sleep or getting hungry if it meant getting somewhere – even a small step – with what she was studying. Her house was littered with books and notes, her chalkboards studded with diagrams. Her home was a mess, and she liked it that way as long as she could do what she needed to do. After all, she had to study blastia. She loved it. It’s what she’s always known. It’s the only thing in her life that she ever wanted to study, and the only thing that she saw herself studying.

She didn’t really imagine herself wanting to study something – no, _someone_ else. Her travels with Yuri and their other companions were tied directly to matters of interest to her, and she knew she should be forwarding her research because the material found in their travels was rich and fascinating. But she found herself gravitating towards other things, her mind straying elsewhere.

She had so been enwrapped with the workings of her mind that her heart never really had the proper workout. She’d never had friends and perhaps the excitement of the adventure constantly worked its way into her, but she found her heart thumping quicker and quicker every time a certain someone looked her way. She didn’t care much about Yuri, or Karol, or whoever. No. They could take care of themselves. They weren’t… interesting.

Estelle was, though.

At first, she came off as someone annoying, but as time went and as she started to grow on her, Rita found herself more and more drawn to the princess, away from her studies, and to the confusions of her own heart.

It wasn’t even friendship. Karol was a kid, annoying and cowardly, and Rita enjoyed nothing more than to knock some sense into him, but she thought of him as a friend. Yuri was too fond of taking matters into his own hands and too obsessed with Flynn, but she thought of him as a friend. Estelle was a different matter.

Rita didn’t quite understand it, but the only time she found herself so drawn to something was when she discovered the allure of blastia. And now this – _she_ – was another thing entirely. Living, breathing, made of flesh and bone, all smiles and encouragement and care and affection…she made Rita’s heart race, and cheeks burn red.

More often than she would have liked, Rita found herself staring at Estelle, studying her every move, acquainting herself with every gesture, every curve, every little thing about Estelle. If only by sight.

But sight wasn’t enough, and she knew it. Her sleep was plagued with dreams of _knowing,_ knowing more than what she was allowed to know. Her thoughts were occupied by wondering – wondering how Estelle felt, how she smelled, how she tasted. She would come out of her own reverie when she knew it was getting too much, but it was like research – she had to know more. Even if thinking like that was wrong. Even if wanting to know Estelle like that was wrong.

Every other word out of her lips was Estelle’s name. Every thought was of Estelle. Every move, every remark, _everything_ was done, as if Estelle was watching, and as if Rita was trying to catch her attention and impress her.

She didn’t know why or indeed when she even started feeling that way. She knew there was very little – if any – chance of Estelle feeling the same way towards her, and she wasn’t courageous enough to even speak a word of it, anyway.

Rita instead contented herself with looking, and speaking her name, playing with it in whispers and under the cover of the night’s darkness, in inns when Estelle would be sleeping on the bed beside her. She wondered if she could learn of Estelle enough for her to be intimately acquainted with the princess. She wondered if she could be close enough to sleep in the same bed.

It was frustrating, because with Estelle there was never any actual learning or studying. It was always wondering, and Rita couldn’t deal with _just_ wondering. Someday… someday she’ll go further. She’ll study Estelle, the way she wanted to.

**Author's Note:**

> Not so much a story as something to get me writing again. A work that tries to get into Rita's head, more or less. It feels great to be writing again.


End file.
